Who Is He Really?
by lightatmidnight
Summary: "Who is Percy Jackson?" Jason asked as we sat by the fire. Leo and I just stared at him. "Have you got double amnesia man?" Leo asked. Jason shook his head. "No, I mean, who is Percy Jackson, as a person?"  Appearances by Annabeth and Nico


It all started with Jason asking the question, "Who is Percy Jackson _really_?" Leo, Jason, and I were sitting by the campfire, planning for our trip to Jason's old camp. We were all tired, anxious, and stressed, relaxing our aching feet by the blazing warmth of the multi-colored fire.

As I watched, the flames turned red, then flickered orange, then yellow, then tangerine, and you get the idea. "What do you mean?" I finally asked after an awkward silence.

"I mean, we've heard all about Percy, sure," Jason explained. "But, we don't know anything about how he is. Like, is he friendly, or like Clarisse, or like another Annabeth, or, in other words, _who is_ Percy Jackson?"

I got what he was talking about now. And Leo was thinking thoughtfully, his hands twisting together, playing with some random metal pieces he carried in his pockets. "I suppose, we know he's popular," Leo said. "I mean, let's face it, anything that's happened to this camp, he's been part of it. The Golden Fleece thing, the Daedalus thing, and the whole battle thing."

"Annabeth said that Percy's faced four Titans single-handedly," Jason added. "Which pretty much blows away my fight against Krios-"

"But we're back to what he's done, not who he is," I cut him off, frustrated. "We're treating him like a camp legend. The way Annabeth told me, Percy is a _person_. We keep seeing him as the light that's gonna save us. But he's human. He's not a god."

Jason nodded, like he agreed with me, and Leo continued playing the metal scraps. Soon, I realized a slight shape. It resembled an iPod. Had he taken apart the entire thing, and then reput it together?" Hm, maybe Leo isn't just the comedic relief after all.

"Well," I began slowly, after a minute of silence. "When, Annabeth showed me a picture of him, he looked really friendly. Like, you know how you can tell what type of a person a guy is by looking at their smile?"

Jason and Leo looked at me blankly. "We don't spend time examining smiles," Leo said. "I think it's an Aphrodite thing."

I rolled my eyes, before continuing. "He had that smile that looked friendly, kind of care free. I think he's kind of like you, Leo. Like, he's the comedic relief, and stuff."

Jason continued his muse. "Well, he cares a lot about his friends. Obviously. The way Annabeth put it, most of his quests were to save someone. Like, that search for my dad's lightning bolt was really to find his mom. And then the Fleece thing was to find Grover. And the holding up the sky bit was for Annabeth. So I guess it's always about his friends for him."

"Talking about Percy now are we?" I heard someone in the shadows, and jumped. A boy walked out of the shadows, and I mean, literally out of the shadows. Like they'd melted just to show him.

"Who the hell are you?" Leo said, after dropping his iPod, and then picking it back up.

"Who the hell are _you_?" the boy retorted. I examined him a little closer this time. He had dark hair, and unreadable eyes. He was dressed in all black, which kind of fit his whole shadows thing. He looked about 14 or 15, which didn't match how he was dressed and his personality. Usually, they look a lot less, knowledgeable.

"We're Leo, Jason, and Piper," Jason said, pointing at us one at a time.

"Oh, so you're Jason huh?" the boy said. "You're mom says hi."

Jason stiffened. "My mom's dead. Thalia said so."

"I know she is. That's why I know she says hi," the boy said.

"Sorry, we still have no idea who you are," I said, saving Jason from having to reply to that. "Are you an enemy or a friend?"

The boy shrugged. "I'm not _your _friend. I don't know you. And Annabeth, you can come out now. Your hat won't do you any good right now."

The air shimmered, and suddenly, Annabeth was in view, holding a Yankees baseball cap. She didn't look surprised that he'd just called her out when she was invisible. "Nico, did you find anything out about the location?" she questioned.

Nico shrugged. Evidently, he was just disagreeable like that. "Some. It's hard to find, because of the defenses. But no harder than trying to figure out whether someone's dead or not. I've located the general idea."

Annabeth nodded. "Alright then. Cool. Nico, you know them right? These are the new campers I told you about. Leo's Hephaestus, Piper's Aphrodite, and you know Jason. We told you about them."

Nico nodded. "Yeah well, I caught 'em by surprise. You heard what they were talking about right?"

"You were spying?" I asked Annabeth.

"Guilty," she said, her stormy gray eyes not even shifting. "Anything about Percy?" she asked Nico.

"I know he's alive. I could tell if he died. But I can't tell you if he's lost any memory or anything."

Annabeth nodded, before seeming to fully realize we were _actually_ there. "Oh, sorry guys, I'm being rude. This is Nico DiAngelo, son of Hades. He's a friend of mine."

"Sure, give away the mystery," the boy grumbled, but I could tell he was smiling. "Yeah, nice to meet you guys. I was hoping trouble would be over by now. But evidently not."

Leo, who had been remarkably quiet, finally said, "So can you guys tell us just who Percy is if you were both obviously spying?"

Nico shrugged. "Sure whatever. His fatal flaw is the fact that he'd risk the world for his friends. He's cool I guess, at least, most of the time. Then he goes into battle mode, and it's like auto-pilot. He literally just mows down everyone in his path. Even before the River Styx thing."

"You mean, the River Styx. Where Achilles and the ankle thing?" Jason put in.

Annabeth nodded.

"Which means," I said, remembering the myth. "That he's invincible."

"Invincible except for his one mortal point," Nico corrected. "Which only he knows. And Annabeth. But _she_ won't tell anyone," he added pointedly.

Annabeth shrugged. "It'd be more harm then help. You know that."

"True."

Annabeth filled in whatever Nico hadn't said. "He cares a lot about family, he's the one who made the gods claim all their children, and stuff you know."

"He cares a lot about Annabeth too," Nico added.

Annabeth blushed. "He cares about all his friends."

"Your his girlfriend."

"That still makes me his friend."

That's when the noticed the three of us watching them banter like this was some sort of a game.

"Maybe it's better if we don't know what type of person Percy is," Leo said slowly.

* * *

A/N: So...what did you think? I mean, I've definitely written better, but this was like, a plot bunny that was screaming to be written, so I took thirty minutes out of my day and wrote it. Any typos, eh, screw 'em. Lol, I'm feeling lazy. But HAPPY NEW YEAR (2011) everyone! =) Lots of Love-Catherine


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